Refugees flee from one conflict to another: report
September 15, 2016
International aid organization Oxfam called on wealthy countries to do their fair share in helping the millions of people who have fled their homes to escape conflict.
According to a new report published Thursday titled "Different conflict, same crisis," some 24.5 million refugees and asylum seekers have been recorded by the UNHCR in 2015. Of those people, 86 percent are currently living in "low- to high-middle-income countries."
The report goes on to say that nearly 4 million people have resettled in countries that are themselves devastated by conflict. These people are being hosted by 15 conflict-scarred countries where 161,250 deaths have been recorded in 2015 alone. While some of these countries attempt to make social and economic adjustments in order to help better incorporate refugees, others don't.
Many of the people living in these countries have limited access to employment and educational opportunities, and some even spend decades living as refugees on the fringes of society.
Call for unity
Oxfam noted that the responsibility to care for these displaced people is falling disproportianately on lower income countries, blaming "a lack of political will" on the part of wealthier countries for this imbalance.
According to statistics released by the organization, countries like Afghanistan, Egypt and Iraq - all suffering from violence of their own to varying degrees - host significant numbers of displaced people. Pakistan was by far the most impressive in this regard, having hosted 1,567,604 refugees and asylum seekers by the end of 2015.
The organization called on UN member states planning to meet for its first UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in September to take concrete steps toward alleviating the burden imposed upon poorer states of caring for displaced people.
"While there has been some effort to welcome refugees, the overall trend has been around deterrence, containment and outsourcing," said Oxfam official Maya Mailer, according to Reuters news agency.
blc/kl (Reuters, KNA)